Phil Parkinson predicts a shoot-out between two of the hottest strikers outside the Barclays Premier League as Bradford City travel down the A1 to face Peterborough United today for a crucial encounter between teams chasing promotion from Sky Bet League One.

One is Peterborough’s Congolese-born Britt Assombalonga, who leads the division’s scoring charts with 16 goals in all competitions — ten in the league, four in the FA Cup and one each in the Capital One Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Cup — while the other is Bermuda’s Nahki Wells, who has the most league goals, with 14, and 15 in all competitions. Wells is halfway to his pre-season target of 30 goals, just a couple of games short of the mid-point of the season, although continuing speculation makes his future at Coral Windows Stadium uncertain with the transfer window opening next month and clubs showing interest.

It was back in the summer that Bradford rejected a seven-figure bid from Peterborough for Wells. This match marks the first time that Wells will face them since they tried to sign him. Assombalonga, the player they signed instead from Watford, has been a revelation this season, with his goals lifting Peterborough to fifth in the standings, two places and six points ahead of Bradford.

Assombalonga’s goal tally has been boosted in the past couple of weeks by an FA Cup hat-trick against Tranmere Rovers and two goals last week against Gillingham.

Parkinson, the Bradford manager, expects an exciting showdown between the division’s top two scorers. “The directors’ box will be packed,” he said. “People will be looking at the game as a great opportunity to compare both players. Assombalonga obviously did well last year at Southend and he’s gone up a level like Nahki and taken to it just the same. They are two good young strikers.

“It will be an open game with chances at both ends. The way they play, they’ve got a lot of technically gifted players but do leave themselves exposed and I do feel we can exploit that.”

Wells could be partnered up front by Garry Thompson if James Hanson fails to recover from a tight calf that is threatening his ever-present run in the team. Raffaele De Vita and Caleb Folan are also struggling to be fit from thigh and hamstring injuries respectively.

Darragh MacAnthony, the Peterborough chairman, made their interest in Wells public after City had rejected their bid, saying on Twitter at the time: “We made a club record bid but, in fairness to Bradford, they don’t need the money, so good for them.”

When told of Peterborough’s interest, Wells dismissed it, saying that he was “not too focused on moving sideways”.

MacAnthony later disclosed that Assombalonga’s capture from Watford for an undisclosed sum had “smashed” the club’s previous record fee of £1.1?million paid for Tyrone Barnett.

Wells is set for his highest scoring season in English football and Parkinson is happy that the bid for him from Peterborough fell through because his goals have kept City in the hunt for a play-off spot despite a recent slump in form.

“Peterborough did put in a call, but Nahki was in League One already,” Parkinson said. “If he moved in that period, he’d have been looking to go to a division higher. He’s at a big club at this level, similar to Peterborough, so he had no need to move.

“Anyone with a striker who’s got 15 goals, you are going to get people constantly asking about him, which is good. If we weren’t having these discussions, it would mean he wasn’t doing very well.

“Nahki has got to keep his head down and keep doing what he’s doing. He knows the only thing he can do is affect the game of football over 90 minutes.”

Gary Jones, the Bradford captain, said: “I know who I’d rather have! I’m probably biased, but it’s going to be a good battle between two sharpshooters. Peterborough aren’t up there via luck; it’s going to be tough. But we’re relishing it and hopefully we can come back with a good positive result to start the Christmas period.”

City have never won at London Road Stadium in 13 attempts, but Parkinson has happier memories having been an emphatic 5-1 winner on his last visit with Charlton Athletic, in November 2010.

“That was a magnificent performance, really committed with a strong work ethic,” Parkinson said. “If we can do that tomorrow, then we’ve got a great chance. I’ve seen Peterborough twice this season and they were two completely contrasting performances.

“They were really poor at Walsall and I know Darren Ferguson [their manager] was livid with them. But then I saw them beat Tranmere 5-0 in the Cup. Peterborough were unfortunate to get relegated last year.

“They play a diamond system and we’re going to have to make sure we’re ready for that. But they lost five games before this recent run, so we know they are beatable.”

This is a crucial period of the season for Bradford, who are seventh, four points behind Rotherham United, whom they meet on Boxing Day. They are also at home next Sunday against Swindon Town, who are level on 30 points with Bradford, Walsall and Port Vale.